Q318 Songs

There is this lit journal that publishes writing about music which I want to submit to, but I just can’t articulate exactly how much songs set my days, my intention.

How do I describe the content I feel at the end of a day full of parenting and cleaning and trying, trying to write when the kids are asleep and I sip an apple cider and listen to Norah Jones’ The Long Day is Over?

Or the empowerment of walking into a high school I have a lesson plan ready for, headphones in, listening to Demi Lovato’s Confident?

Or how it is to watch the ocean roll, listening to Chris Stapleton?

Or belting out Little Big Town’s Girl Crush while I piece together a jigsaw puzzle?

I don’t know how to articulate how songs create the rhythm I move to.

All the artists I know have multiple talents. They can play music or paint or act and also, they can write like badasses. I’ve thought I had only writing as a talent but also, I can put together a playlist like a deejay. Maybe that is an art too.

Here’s what I’ve been listening to lately:

Sober – Demi Lovato
I’m a Mess – Bebe Rexha
Bad Things – Machine Gun Kelly, Camila Cabello
Eastside – Benny Blanco, Halsey, and Khalid
Not Me – Melvv (featuring Two Feet)
Twisted – Missio
Cherry Hill – Russ
Redbone – Childish Gambino
I Like Me Better – Lauv
Skin – Rihanna
Lucy – Bryce Fox
You Make It Easy – Jason Aldean
Powerful – Major Lazer (featuring Ellie Goulding and Tarrus Riley)
I Like It Heavy – Halestorm